Cormorants are the tough guys of the aquatic bird world. They don't take any guff from anybody, and they don't seem to be afraid of anything. They also seem to spend as much time underwater as they do in the air. I love these diving birds, and learned to love them more as I observed them in Bellingham. One of their endearing traits is that they have to spend quite a lot of time on a perch with wings spread, drying out. My impression is that they become so waterlogged from all the diving that they do that they can scarcely fly after awhile. It's not uncommon to see them facing the sun in this wings-spread position for many long minutes at a time.